Midtown Lunch

A tip of the hat to a couple of people on Twitter who sent word that Patuca on John St. (btw. Dutch & Nassau) has closed.  A walk by yesterday afternoon confirmed it as the doors were wide open and things inside were already boxed up and being moved out although there was no note on the door giving a reason for the sudden closing. I can’t say I ever got anything there other than the odd bagel in the morning but it seemed to be a step above most of the generic deli-type places in the area so I’m sure a lot of you will be bummed.

In what may be a record for quickest opening and closing, Soul Daddy – the product of the reality show America’s Next Great Restaurant – is already shuttered after a little more than one month. It was all over Twitter late yesterday and sure enough, when I walked by after work the Soul Daddy flag was still up, but the place was hiding its shame with paper over the windows. I guess not enough people liked whole wheat biscuits and baked chicken.

I wasn’t all that surprised to see Hello Pasta had closed, but when Lunch’er Kevin e-mailed me a sad picture of a for rent sign in the window at Cajun Maggie’s, a “WTF?” may have escaped my mouth. Tokyo Kitchen closed a while ago and as I noted when I ate at Maggie’s a couple of weeks ago, this was one of the last slightly dodgy place to eat on that block of John St. between Broadway and Nassau. Now that distinction is left to Blimpie.

Barely five months after opening, the location of Hello Pasta on Maiden Lane is already closed. I wasn’t overly impressed when I checked it out in January right after it opened and others seemed to think that it was overpriced for something you could possibly make yourself. I guess this is one step back in their plans to launch a pasta empire. Click through to see the slightly strange sign posted in the window.

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I don’t get up to Soho too often for lunch, so I was surprised to see a sign on the popular Rheon Cafe on Spring St. (nr. Thompson) late last week saying it was closing due to the economy. I know several profiled lunch’ers had recommended the vaguely Japanese bakery and cafe before I went up there and had a duck sandwich that was pretty good. Looks like those frequent lunch’ers weren’t enough to pay the Soho rent. Click through to see the closure notice taped in the window.

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I think we all know there are better sources of Jamaican food downtown than the Golden Krust chain, but I was still sad to see the location on Church St. closed. There is still a branch on Nassau (btw. John & Fulton) if you need your patty fix. Or you could just go to one of the carts like Veronica’s Kitchen and probably get more food for less money.

Sad news for fans of the Zibetto Espresso Bar on Fulton St. (at Gold). It looks like it’s shuttered indefinitely, likely due to the large hole in the street in front of the store. This only adds to the mess at the other end of the street as the Fulton Transit Center has closed or displaced a bunch of other stores and restaurants. And yet the giant new Burger King a couple of doors down is still open. Sigh. Check out the notice posted on Zibetto’s door after the jump. Read more »